New Funding Found for Community Service Programs

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Gov. Mary Fallin has signed a bill that provides a new revenue stream to help fund county community service programs.

Fallin signed the Safari McDoulett Community Service Act on Thursday. The bill is named after an Oklahoma County staffer who died in a car accident earlier this year in Norman.

The bill authorizes counties to develop a system for district, juvenile and municipal courts to levy a fee from $25 to $250 on defendants ordered to perform community service. Oklahoma City Sen. David Holt sponsored the bill and says it will help to fund community service programs.

Holt says the bill was requested by Oklahoma County Commissioner Brian Maughan as a way to help fund a program that allows convicted criminals to do community service as part of their sentence.